10 Cool Technologies

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Soon, even George Jetson won’t have much on you. The future is here, and while you may not be able to afford it yet, you can start compiling your wish list. Here are the latest technologies to watch out for:

1) Flying Cars

How about skipping the morning gridlock by flying to work? Terrafugia Inc. is making this dream possible with its Transition® two-seat aircraft.  The Transition® can transform from a car to a plane in under 30 seconds, by lowering a pair of foldable wings. The Transition® can travel at highway speeds on the ground and fly 115mph for 450 miles in the sky.   Terrafugia plans to release the planes in 2011. The company estimates that the Transition® will cost a mere $194,000.

2) Family- Friendly Electric Vehicles

Tesla Motor’s Model S will let you drive your family all the way to Disneyland on a single charge. Okay, maybe you won’t get to Disneyland, but you will be able to travel 300 miles before recharging.  The Model S is a five-door hatchback car. It comfortably seats five adults and two-backwards facing seats can be made available in the car’s storage space, like an old station wagon. The Model S has some serious “trunk” space available; it can easily fit a surf board and a mountain bike. The car will take four hours to fully charge for about $5 of electricity. Tesla motors estimates that the car will cost about $49,000, after a $7,500 rebate from the government.

3) Smart Cars

The smart company is taking green cars to the next level. First, the entire manufacturing process of the car is as eco-friendly as possible. The factory is run on a natural gas fired thermal energy. Excess heat from one process is funneled into the next and no parts go to waste- they are recycled. Second, the final product, the smart car, is 95% recyclable.  Third, the product itself is a certified SmartWay vehicle. This means its smart fortwo car line exceeds EPA standards for air pollutant and green house gas emissions.

4) Lithium Ion Battery

Venture capitalist John Doer, of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, and Byers, recently dropped a hint about the future of lithium ion batteries in a speech given to the US Senate. He said that the battery project is still in “stealth mode,” but his firm’s new battery will allow electric cars to travel twice as far on a single charge and, shortly after, three times as far. This means an electric car could travel 100 miles on one charge.

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 User Comments:

jorge

May 11, 2009 7:26 PM

oooooo lithium

jason

Apr 27, 2009 10:30 PM

wow. that tesla looks amazing

eric

Apr 27, 2009 7:15 PM

really? power surge?

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